Pando Days

Climate and Environment

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

LA is home to one of the world's greatest collections of higher ed intellectual and creative talent – from community colleges to R1 universities. In spite of this embarrassment of riches, harnessing the talent to address local environmental and social challenges is woefully inadequate. The classic division between “town and gown” speaks to the problem, with the higher ed “gown” seen as removed from everyday community concerns and focused on siloed academic disciplines, while the public “town” is suspicious of abstraction and elites. The divide is felt worldwide. Business is eager to make the most of higher ed talent for real-world gain, but with interests narrowed by stockholders. Public agencies have broad interest in bringing town and gown together to focus higher ed talent on issues of greatest public concern, but usually lack capacity to do so. A vehicle is needed that’s specially-designed for the purpose of uniting university and community to meet ambitious regional goals.

Pando Days focuses the arts, design, architecture, science, engineering, communications and the humanities on implementing LA County’s sustainability goals to improve the place we call home. The program provides college and university instructors the support they need to create project-driven courses, studios or labs focused on regional resiliency over the fall term. Their resulting projects align with the goals of the County’s sustainability plan. The program includes: Brainstorming workshop for all schools: to inspire a pool of innovative project ideas. Project development and narrative coaching: to help turn academic concepts into real-world solutions. Mentoring and specialist advisor opportunities: from creative, sustainability and business fields. Salon event: to bring town and gown together around critical content. Project premieres and finale: to showcase participating schools’ work. Seed funding and networking: to kick-start the most promising ideas and offer chances for implementation. Instructors from participating schools receive honoraria and are appointed as Pando Days Fellows. Student members are honored in a way that supports academic advancement and job opportunities in creative and sustainability fields. Post-season, we support selected projects on an as-needed and mutually-agreed basis with community-building, connections from “town” and advice. As warranted, we provide further services, such as serving in the role of fiscal agent.

We expect 26 to 30 projects for the combined Pando Days ‘22 and ‘23 seasons, with practical solutions to challenges that range from homelessness to water, transportation to urban green space development, and much more. Developed projects are designed for real-world implementation. County sustainability goals are uniquely impacted by a program of this scale and scope. Faculty are given the framework, tools, and support to create viable projects from academic work. Students develop self efficacy, project implementation skills, and ability to contribute creatively to their fields. Communities develop trust and access points with institutions of learning for easier downstream collaboration. An intercollegiate talent network is established to focus on County goals, while local work gets seen within the context of broad regional aims. With each year, curricular resources that make Pando Days possible are improved, increasing the program’s effectiveness and spread within LA.

Impact relates to: participation and range among higher ed institutions; faculty/student participants; involvement of public agencies, community organizations, and sustainability professionals; County sustainability goals addressed, and project quality/effectiveness. Through 2021, 13 colleges/universities participated, ranging from community colleges to R1 universities; we expect the total to approach 20 in 2022 and increase in 2023. Women have led 77% of projects; 23% by first-generation citizens. Public agency participation ranges from County-level to municipality, with diverse NGO, community partners, and sustainability professionals. Twenty-one projects have been produced through the end of 2021; 33 to 36 projects are expected in aggregate through 2022, with an additional 13-15 in 2023. All 12 LA County goals are addressed. Forty per cent of projects in 2020 moved forward (funding from Google and Mellon); more than 50% of 2021 projects are in discussion with community partners.